"Our lift looks great and was installed…"

Our lift looks great and was installed efficiently. Visitors comment on how great it looks.

There are always teething problems with these sort of things, but the Gartec team were extremely quick to resolve, and when I say problems I mean minor inconvenience's.

"Excellent lift"

Excellent lift. Excellent fitting and service
Really pleased

"Extremely poor after care service"

Extremely poor after care service. Extremely poor communication. No sense of urgency at all. I will not be using Gartec to provide platform lifts again.

"Rev Clifford Beasley"

We have had a Gartec Lift for seven years and are delighted with it. Our service engineer Matthew is always punctual, skilful and has good social skills, a pleasure to have in the home. The office staff are always pleasant and helpful. We heartily recommend Gartec Lifts.

"Great product let down by poor communication and lack of customer care"

The good stuff
(i) The lift itself is great. We needed a compact lift and the Aritco model suits our needs. It is attractive to look at and seems solidly built.

(ii) The design process was good and we had help in establishing the location for a lift and the orientation as well as help in deciding on finishes etc. Unlike other lift companies, Gartec work on the basis that the customer is responsible for creating the opening for the lift which when signed off garter then instal into. It took us some time to find a builder willing to do this and when we did, garter were able to advise and support - up to a point. Visitors have commented on how good the fit looks - although part of this is the quality of the work our builder undertook to finish to the installed lift.

(iii) When we have spoken to people at Gartec, either in person or on the phone, they have been friendly and helpful.

The not so good stuff
(i) The lift was installed in September 2023. The parts arrived on schedule but we noticed that the ground floor door was hinged the wrong way. The installers had no means of checking what they were installing and we had to point out the error to them. Despite the installer calling the office that morning it took 3 emails to find out what was happening. We had expected someone from Gartec to contact us straight away to offer an apology / explanation and a resolution. Eventually, we were told that a replacement door had been ordered. Again we had to chase to find out when this would be delivered. At no point did we have a single point of contact to resolve our issues. Emails are sent from generic email addresses 'installations' or 'service' so you never know who is dealing with the issue. We only found a telephone number after an out of office email message included one.

(ii) The door closers on both levels were not installed correctly. The replacement ground floor door resolved the issue with one but it has taken several attempts to fix the other. An engineer was booked on 27 November but did not show up - no communication or explanation received. The issue was finally resolved in January.

(iii) Communication with office based staff was poor. For example, after we had confirmed that the very minor pre installation changes had been completed we were still being advised that failure to do this would result in abortive costs. We were being chased for payment of the final instalment repeatedly when the final defects were being resolved even after we had been assured this would not happen.

Overall, we are happy with the lift. A real measure of customer care is how any company responds when things go wrong. We repeatedly had to chase for updates and information and are very disappointed at the way Gartec dealt with the issues experienced with our lift. These could have been handled much better from a customer perspective.

"A LOT OF DELAYS"

We signed off with the salesman on May 31/June 1st regarding all the finishes, and of course have paid the majority of the cost up front. Everything is ready and waiting for the lift installation, so we have kept our side of the transaction.
First installation date given was Nov 20th, which was postponed at the last minute to Dec 11th. It has been postponed again at the last minute, but no new installation date has been confirmed, as yet.
I am trying to give Gartec the benefit of the doubt, but two postponements and no new installation date are very concerning for clients, as you can imagine.
There are also remedial works required after the installation of the lift, so all these have been postponed as well. (Plastering the wall, extra piece of floor and skirting installed, painting of wall/skirting, carpeting installation on each floor where the lift doors are.)

UPDATE: Response from Gartec has been replied to on 6 Jan 2024.
We await a new installation date for the Lift, and will update on Trustpilot accordingly.

UPDATE 12th Jan 2023: We have been given a new installation date of 5th Feb, via our contractor. I had no response personally, despite sending the sales team my details as requested. So that means 11 weeks after the original installation date, which was blamed on supply issues from Vimtec, Italy. When the lift is successfully installed, I will update again.

UPDATE 26 FEB 2024: Well the lift is installed now, but WE STILL CAN’T USE IT! This has become a very long process indeed.
On 5th Feb, a team of two came to install the lift, which took 3 days. Then because apparently the telephone wire was not connected, the lift was locked and we could not use it. That team was supposed to “commission” the lift. It was a pity they did not tell me to get an electrician in during those 3 days, which could have been done, to fix the minor problem of the telephone connection.
Instead, as Gartec are clearly extremely short of engineers, we have been waiting for 3 weeks, and as of today at 4.30 pm have an appointment for another lift engineer to come to commission the lift later this week, now that the telephone wire is live.
Gartec do not inform their clients about anything except the bare minimum regarding the process. Someone else complained about Gartec poor customer service, and I must concur.
I will update again when we can actually use the lift, but I would advise any one who wants to order and install a lift to allow a YEAR from start to finish, whatever the company says.

UPDATE: MARCH 2024 - At last we can actually use the lift. We are pleased with the external doors, which are set back from the wall, and I chose a RAL colour for.
Inside it is standard white. It works fine, although quite noisy, it sounds a bit like the Tardis, but we are glad to have it at last. What a saga.

"Darren was very helpfull"

Darren was very helpfull. thanks

"The product is great"

The product is great. Even our building inspector was impressed.
We did have issues with installing as the engineer put it in off square. After many visits, phone calls and emails we reached a satisfactory resolution.

"I am currently having a lift installed…"

I am currently having a lift installed by this unreliable company. The staff require more training as they are not professional. The sale person Bill tells you what you want to know to secure an order, and even confirmed several time the opening was all correct on site. The fitter arrived to measure up prior to installation and confirmed he would attend on the Monday morning two days later, unfortunately the lift or the filters never arrived. After eventual getting through to the office I spoke to Maisie who informed me it was not due to be fitted until the Thursday the complete opposite to what the fitted confirmed on site. After speaking with Ben Long he informed me they would be onsite for two whole days without restricted hours to complete the installation on the Thursday and Friday. Following the arrival of the lift on the Thursday, panels were missing from the order. I explained to the filters the location the lift had to be installed and if anything required trimming please ask. Unfortunately the shell of the lift shaft was fitted in the incorrect position, when I questioned Marcus the installer about this he was very defensive and never asked for a tile to be cut by 10mm so the lift could of been located in the correct position. Following this discussion Friday morning with Marcus he said they had to leave at 12noon to get back home, again totally opposite to what Ben Long had confirmed. I tried to call Bill who was my original contact who has also refused to respond. I tried calling the office several times leaving messages unfortunately no one returned any of my calls. I then sent an email explaining the situation and received an email back from Maisie saying she is in a meeting so cannot speak, but the filters will return to site the following Friday. I then received an email from Ben Long on the following Tuesday afternoon saying he would call me once speaking to the installers. Still no phone call, I then received an email Wednesday evening confirming the fitters would attend the following Monday and Tuesday. Without any update or appointment the fitters turned up on the Friday, this company do not know what arrangements have been made and they do not communicate between themselves what a shambles. I received an email on the Friday from Ben confirming the panels which were missed of the order would be available in 3 weeks causing further delays on site. Ben was not even aware his own fitters were on site. The lift has now been moved to the correct location. I will update on this unprofessional company as they continue to install this lift.

"Five-Year Warranty (really)"

Five-Year Warranty (really)

A year ago I had an Aritco lift installed by Agility lifts. 24 hours later one of the doors fell off. Two months later new doors were fitted and the lift was finally put into service.

The lift would only work with 1 person in it (it should take 5). I gave up on Agility Lifts and contacted Aritco directly. Their British company Gartec sent an engineer to inspect it and he immediately condemned the installation as unsafe and disconnected it so it could not be used. His report said the lift needed to be reinstalled.

Months passed and eventually Aritco contacted me to say they disagreed with their own engineer’s report and that with a number of spare parts, they would commission the lift.

That was in November 2022 and 8 months after installation, still no lift.

Finally, the Aritco engineer arrives and restarts the lift but says he needs another visit to fully commission it. During use, the lift starts to make strange noises and if more than 1 person is in it it shakes and shudders.

Now it's March 2023, one year later, and no sign of the Aritco engineer and no communication from Aritco Service Team.
Yesterday we had an electrical interruption and now the lift won’t do anything.

On the plus side at least I have 4 years left on my warranty, for what it's worth.

Ray Barlow